Letters to the Editor

For some time I have heard around town about the Bend police and Deschutes County Sheriff's department being rather abusive of their power. However, recently things appear to have completely spiraled out of control with both of these departments. Their priorities seem to focus on preying on the average hard-working, tax-paying citizen, rather than actually doing real police work and focusing on criminals. There is a simple answer for this; we are easy prey. The D.A. office enjoys this. It keeps them busy spending our tax dollars prosecuting regular citizens who many times find it easier to plead guilty than fight whatever the violation may be.

Editor's note: Like those great old timey radio shows, we're taking the unprecedented step of running the following letter in two installments. If you just can't wait for the dramatic conclusion go to tsweekly.com, Letters. You Luddites will just have to wait another week.
Somewhere in the middle of a big state, the good citizens of a small town have fallen asleep at the wheel and have unknowingly gone back to the future…

Wow, what a mean-spirited, arrogant letter from B. Graham regarding studded tires. Despite the fact that the author tries to use carefully selected science to refute, even mock other letter-writers' experiences and opinions, I would like to add a few studies and accounts of my own to the debate. I feel that I am well qualified to do so as, prior to moving to Bend 5 winters ago, I lived in the Colorado Mountains at 9,000 feet for 12 years. During our first fall in Bend I was shocked, and amused, to hear the rattling of studded tires down Wall street after one, insignificant, snow storm: I commented to my wife, "Oh my God, look at all of these California weenies!" I had never seen so many studded vehicles (or late-model cars with designer rims…but that's another topic!) Over the course of the next few weeks I proceeded to: 1) Slide down the hill, right out of my driveway, through a stop sign and onto Portland Avenue 2) Coming out of work on Mt. Bachelor Dr. slide through (over, actually) the roundabout at Reed Market 3) slide completely out of control down the hill onto the Bill Healy bridge, careening off of the curbs 4) get hopelessly stuck on relatively flat ground in the parking lot at Tumalo Falls.

This week's letter comes from Michael Funke who hits the nail on the head with this slow-burn blast of the city council. Thanks for the letter Michael, you can pick up your winner's prize, a bag of freshly ground strictly ground Strictly Organic coffee at our office, 704 NW Georgia.
Three new Bend City Councilors have ushered in an era of secrecy and backroom deals. It started before Kathie Eckman, Jeff Eager and Tom Greene took office-when they held an invitation-only meeting with local business leaders-and continued through the selection of Eckman as mayor and now the surprise appointment of Oran Teater to fill a vacant seat on the Council.

I was in the audience at the last city council meeting and what I saw and heard caused me a great deal of concern.
I am very sorry to see city councilors Peter Gramlich and Linda Johnson depart. They brought a different perspective to the table and contribute to the council's diversity.

Re: Bob Bates letter "Do The Math"Well Bob, let's apply your logic to another area – food. McDonald's can supply food at lower cost than eating healthier alternatives. Unfortunately, it's high in sodium and fat, and also lacks in some key nutritional value. But hey, by your logic it's the cheapest, so that's what everyone should eat. We'll conveniently ignore the byproducts of that decision – obesity, heart disease, diabetes and all the other costs that stem from a poor diet. We just won't count that, put our collective heads in the sand. But that doesn't mean there is no cost associated with that decision.

I would like to respond to the two letters referring to the author's belief in studded tires. The letter written by Dave McRae (Jan 1), has his personal belief in studs based on his experience with black ice and a slide through an intersection. In both instances his was the fault because he was not driving according to possible conditions at the time. The meteorological statements of his can be discounted, as he provided no objective references, which can be checked. The second letter by Paul Biskup (Jan 8), was so disjointed and rambling that one has a difficult time trying to figure out what the majority of the letter was about. One thing was clear however. He also likes studded tires.

This week's letter of the week comes from Thomas Ware who contemplates the fate of a recently felled tree. We're not sure if this falls into the philosophy or poetry category, but we liked it. Thanks for the letter Thomas. You can pick up your winner's spoils, a freshly ground bag of Strictly Organic coffee, at our office, 704 NW Georgia.
We live in a unique place, and we who live here are a unique bunch of people; hell, even our homeless, so prevalent in today's news, are well-groomed avid bicyclists. Ain't no mall walkers around here, and not because we don't have "malls." We used to, now they're parking lots, because nobody walked in them anyway (which is why they're now parking lots!).

The letdown after Christmas is a natural time to think about some questionable American customs and thought processes, and perhaps to see the fallacies therein. The following comparison list might be helpful in sorting things out.
Myth: Santa Claus lives at the North Pole and has flying reindeer. Reality: Santa is a fantasy so he owns no flying reindeer.
Myth: Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. Reality: Christmas is a most stressful season and often a very disappointing time of year.

I thank Ken Czepelka (Jan. 29 issue) for responding to my Jan. 22 letter, "The Solution." I don't personally argue with Ken on what he presented, but it's in conflict with Robert Bryce's 2008 book, "Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence." Bryce deals extensively with the "solar" issue. In Chapter 16, "Solar, the 1 percent solution," he provides an analysis by Raymond James and Associates that solar power in residential applications costs $0.37 per Kilowatt-hour, nearly four times conventional sources! Simmons and Company International estimated that even a growth rate of 25 percent a year of solar power capacity would only provide about 1 percent of global electricity demand by year 2020 at a cost of $0.22-$0.84 per Kilowatt-hour. By 2030, the Energy Information Administration estimates that solar power will provide about five billion Kilowatt-hours of electricity to American consumers per year, a mere fraction (0.0015) of the 3,351 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity the agency expects from coal. It's true that the Sun is an unlimited source of power, but cloud cover is also unlimited and is a "killer drawback" according to Bryce, along with a lack of "high-density electrical storage." "Solar power can never be relied upon to provide large quantities of base load power."